Wait, What? (Insect Edition)

Maya the Bee was anime?

I always thought it was a European series.  But then, I was watching towards the end of my don't-care-so-long-as-it's-animated period, so I wouldn't have noticed either way.



The American dub had a different - and lame - theme song.  The version we got in Australia had the original tune* with translated lyrics, which is apparently the case for most of the rest of the world:

France


Germany


Poland


Russia


Hungary


Czechoslovakia, as was


German remix, apparently broadcast in Spain (the Spanish theme is less lame than the American version, but still not the real thing)


Polish polka version, sung by an unreasonably talented 11-year-old


Finland


Slovenia


A live Czech version (Karel Gott sang the original German, Czech, and Slovak versions)


Israel


Greece


A German / Czech co-production


Portugal


Wait, Spain had the real thing too, as well as their German remix and their Latin alternate-universe version


Another German version on Spanish TV or...  something - this one actually changes languages midstream


Netherlands


Croatia


Honestly, you could hum the tune of this show to anyone in the world between the ages of about thirty and fifty and form an instant friendship...  Except for America.  Oh, and Italy.  They messed it up too.

The odd thing, though, is that English version is not the song from my childhood.  That version went:

There is a land that you can't see,
Although it sometimes isn't there;
And that is where you'll find a bee,
With so much happiness to share.
And if you ask her for her name she'll say it's Maya,
The one and only little bee called Maya,
Maya has so many friends you see;
She really is a crazy busy bee.
She's always going to exciting places, Maya,
Meeting friends with different faces, Maya,
Maya, everyone loves Maya.
Maya (Maya), Maya (Maya),
Maya tell us about your day.

I got most of that from memory, and then found this page which had all but the opening verse, and in the right order.  (As soon as I saw it I realised I had some lines the wrong way round.)  I found the opening verse on some random page on Facebook.

Now, let's see if I can find that one as well.

...

Mmmmmno.

Oh well, here's another version in...  Don't know any more.  I think that's Croatian.  (Looks up.)  Yes, Croatian, which I speak fluently...  To the extent that I can recognise Pcelica Maja when I see it twice just a few minutes apart.



* And by "original", I mean the version composed by Czech songwriter Karel Svoboda.  The Japanese theme song is nearly as bad as the American version.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 11:15 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
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